"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
My only photo contributions this month. Sorry, with the trains gone long ago, southern Delaware has lost all its stations.
Here is an old picture from Boston, looking down the tracks from a Green Line station. These are light rail cars, PCC cars at one time, that mostly travel above ground, but downtown there is a collections of underground stations. I took this with a film camera, and no one got upset back then.
Here is another ancient picture, from 1973, again on film. This is in Concord, Massachusetts, right across the street from where I lived. Looking down the tracks, you can see the Concord station, but I was interested in the train more than its surroundings.
At the time, these were Boston and Maine tracks. Some very rich people were having a wedding, and had chartered a train from Steamtown in Vermont. I happened to hear a steam whistle, so I rushed outside and caught the train on its inbound trip to Boston. Then, I had the sense to call the railroad and ask to speak to the dispatcher, who told me when the engine would be returning. I was ready with my camera that day. I suspect that this was the last time a steam engine ran through Concord.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Last day to get the station photos in:
Since we've mostly done historic old stations, how about a modern station for a new railroad:
I'm pretty sure this is Miami's new Brightline RR station:
It seems like all the Brightline stations have some of the same architectural features.
York1 John
Ophir, Colorado. About as quaint a location you could imagine:
Ophir_Colorado_RGS by Edmund, on Flickr
Way over to big city Boston. South Station:
South-Station-Boston by Edmund, on Flickr
Jack Delano's popular photo taken at Albuquerque in '43:
Santa-Fe_Albuquerque-3-1943 by Edmund, on Flickr
And things are looking a little different at the same station thirty years later:
Southwest-Chief_Albuquerque by Edmund, on Flickr
And when you don't even have a station, a road crossing will do:
Builder_Stop by Edmund, on Flickr
I hope everyone is doing well. Wishing you a speedy recovery, David.
Cheers, Ed
A photo montage of Chicago passenger stations would not be complete without photos of two famous, but much less elegant, passenger stations: Englewood and Little Englewood.
Englewood Station (top photo) at 63rd and State Street, about 7 miles south of downtown, was the site where the NYC and PRR picked up and dropped off passengers who chose not to use the downtown stations. It was also the site of races between NYC and PRR trains heading out of Chicago.
Little Englewood Station (bottom photo), about a mile west of Englewood Station, was the site where several railroads that used C&WI trackage picked up and dropped off passengers who chose not to use Dearborn Station downtown.
Source: monon.org
Rich
Alton Junction
Here is the sixth of six downtown Chicago passenger stations. It is the Chicago North Western, long ago demolished, which was the passenger station for the C&NW.
Source: Chicagology
Before September fades away, I decided to post two more downtown Chicago passenger stations: Central Station and Grand Central Station.
The top photo is Central Station, now long ago demolished, which was the passenger station for the Illinois Central RR, along with the Michigan Central RR, and at times a few other roads.
Source: Library of Congress
The photo below is Grand Central Station, now long ago demolished, which was the passenger station for the B&O, Soo Line, Pere Marquette, Chicago Great Western and C&O.
Source: Public Domain
York1Kevin, that lens makes it look like Florida has hills!
My house sits on an artificial hill about seven feet above the roadway. This is well above code, and nearly everyone else will flood before I do.
I am a couple of feet higher than the houses on either side of me.
York1I carry a paper vaccination card. I'm not sure why I carry it -- since I got the vaccine in March, I haven't once had to show the card to anyone.
No one has ever asked for mine either.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Good morning, everyone. Bacon, eggs, and coffee, Brunhilda.
We woke up this morning to the best sound -- it was raining. Even though corn harvest is about to begin and the rain will postpone it a couple of days, I don't think anyone I know will complain about the rain.
Dave, I continue to hope your daughter gets better. That's good news about her homecoming royalty. Things like that will make you proud even years from now.
David, I don't know if you're still in the hospital or if you are reading the diner at all, but we all hope everything is going well.
Kevin, that lens makes it look like Florida has hills!
Garry, great pictures of Chicago stations. I have only personally been on a train in Chicago Union Station. It was December, it was cold, the station was being remodeled, and there was no heat. It was not a pleasant experience.
Tin Can, I hope your eyes are OK. That doesn't sound like a pleasant experience. It can't be fun trying to adjust to seeing only out of one eye.
Bear, great pictures of your beautiful country. One of the photos shows you driving on the wrong side of the road. If I ever visit, I think I will take a tour instead of drive. I would probably forget and end up smashing head-on into someone.
Brent, since I don't carry a cell phone, I carry a paper vaccination card. I'm not sure why I carry it -- since I got the vaccine in March, I haven't once had to show the card to anyone.
For anyone I've haven't mentioned, I hope everything is going well with you.
My last train station photo is kind of a repeat of one I showed earlier, except from a different angle. Omaha had the Union Station and the Burlington Station very close, sharing a set of tracks between them. Directly east of the stations, all the tracks converged into one set of tracks to cross the Missouri River.
On the left is the Union Station, and on the right is the Burlington Station. There was an overhead covered walkway between them, with stairs down to access the various tracks.
Looking east:
Here's the view looking west:
Really a neat setup.
I was in the Union Station as a kid meeting my aunt. The thing I really remember is that this was where I got my first ride on an escalator.
Both stations are still there, with Union Station a museum and the Burlington Station the studios for the local ABC TV station.
I'm looking forward to seeing a lot good bridge pictures.
Tomorrow is pay day. I love retirement. Without doing any work, money magically appears in my bank account each month!
Have a good day, everyone.
Good morning all. Chloe, a large coffee in a ALGOMA CENTRAL mug please.
Well, my oldest daughter has had an interesting week. To start with, I think her incision that I have to pack daily may be infected again. At least now it's open so no chance for build-up which will help. We see her surgeon again on Tuesday. Conversely, she got voted to homecoming court for her high school! She isn't one of the popular kids and is anything but a social butterfly, but she is one of the nicest, prettiest girls (in my opinion anyway!) in the school. Nice to see homecoming court wasn't just a popularity contest.
As fate would have it, my youngest daughter has a soccer game the night of the homecoming football game. My wife's parents would be our fall-back to take her to her game, but they are on vacation. Trying get my sister-in-law to take her now. My youngest talked to her coach about missing the game and he said he needed her there. Not just because a few of the other girls can't make it, but he said he needs her skill on offense in that game. Happy Dad! Stressed, but happy!
David, hope you are doing okay.
Track Fiddler, where are you?
Everyone, hope you have a good day!
Mike
Last day of the month!
Has anyone else noticed the font on the forum has changed slightly?
I finally bought a fisheye lens for my camera. This one has a focal lenth of 8mm and can "see" at 145 degrees.
I played with it a lttle today, and I like it. It is not a genuine Canon lens, and it does not have auto-focus or image stabilization. For as little as I will use it, I think it will be OK.
The queen of the house:
Howdy ....
Stations in Chicago ....
Chicago LaSalle Station was New York Central and Rock Island
Chicago Dearborn Station was Santa Fe, Monon, Wabash, C&O, ERIE, C&EI, and GTW.
....
Birmingham, AL .... Some of the upper parts of the Birmingham Terminal Station are in the distance behind the Frisco E8's.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
SeeYou190That looks like a great place to visit.
named after James Mackenzie, a convicted sheep rustler, though to be fair, he was later pardoned.
Probably because all the potential witnesses had either already been eaten or were stored in a freezer case somewhere.
JaBearThe Mackenzie Country is a high country basin located in the centre of the South Island, named after James Mackenzie, a convicted sheep rustler, though to be fair, he was later pardoned.
Bear: Thanks for sharing those beautiful photographs. That looks like a great place to visit.
I don't post very often anymore; primarily because I am very busy in my new job. However, I do try to visit a couple of times a week. Furthermore, I have nothing to report on train activity in the basement; that has been curtailed by home renovation projects and general home maintenance.
It does not help that about a month ago I began experiencing blurry vision in my right eye. It got bad enought that I went to the local eye doctor, who immediately referred me to the closest opthamologist in Garden City, KS. My right cornea; which had been transplanted in 32 years ago, was rejecting. I have been one-eyed since; on a course of medication which has stopped the rejection episode. But there is so much swelling that my vision is still greatly impaired; and I am on drops that will hopefully fix that. But the doctor says this is a long healing process; I do not go back for another 3 weeks. If it does not get better, another transplant is on the table. Regardless, I would like this to be over, hopefully without another surgery.
Good morning, diners. Out walking at 6:00 a.m., it looked like the sky was on fire. The entire sky was red, so I guess we will get our rain today.
I have a couple of places around our front door to caulk before winter. We put in a new front door several years ago, and it seems that it's finally settled into place.
I have always had a love of train stations. As a kid, they always represented new and exciting places to go on vacation. I have really liked this month's photos.
This one is not a real good picture, but it is in the interesting South Dakota town of Deadwood. The town is a real attraction in the Black Hills:
I hope David is going to be OK. That goes for others that are also missing. I don't know you personally, but I count you as friends from this diner. I am thinking of you.
BATMAN Tims for all.
Heartland Division CB&Q Rich. I did show C. U. S. , but I don't recall saying I would show the other Chicago stations. So feel free to post pictures of them if you want to.
Rich. I did show C. U. S. , but I don't recall saying I would show the other Chicago stations. So feel free to post pictures of them if you want to.
I went back to double check, not believing that I could possibly be wrong.
Sorry about that, Garry.
Howdy.
David ... We are very concerned about you, and are praying you are getting well.
York1It's the same reason I don't have a cell phone.
I rarely ever took my phone with me, just because I never thought about it, having had an average of four calls a year on it. However, it now has my Vaccine QR code on it so I need to take it. I'll be glad when this pandemic has moved on and I do not need to remember to take it with me.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
richhotrain Garry, I pass by the Diner on my daily walk, but I rarely stop in. I did stop in today, and I was surprised to read your comment about future posting. And I’m disappointed that you haven't linked to this, Rich…. https://www.shorpy.com/node/9261 Cheers, the Bear.
richhotrain Garry, I pass by the Diner on my daily walk, but I rarely stop in. I did stop in today, and I was surprised to read your comment about future posting.
Earlier this month, Garry promised to post photos on some or all of the original six downtown Chicago terminals, so I didn't want to steal his thunder. But, alas, unless I missed some, I believe that Garry only posted photos of Chicago Union Station (CUS).
There is still time in September, Garry.
Here's one story from the school lawyer several years ago:
A teacher had some discipline issues with several students.
That evening, the teacher posted on her personal Facebook page that she had had a hard day at school. She didn't say any more than that -- no names, no details.
One of the student's parents hired a lawyer and sued the teacher and the school, claiming that even though no names or details had been posted, everyone in the school knew who she was talking about.
The lawyer spent time and the teacher suffered sleepless nights due to worry, but the case was dismissed before it ever reached court.
Each year the school system has a district-wide meeting. The lawyer speaks at this meeting, advising teachers not to have a Facebook page. If they still want a page, she advises them never to post anything that is school or student related.
At my point in life, I don't worry about that. I just don't want the screen time. It's the same reason I don't have a cell phone. My wife does, and she loves it. I just don't want the bother.
I see I've got tops. Tims for all.
I use a Pseudonym for my RR/historical/music FB account and do not do the friends thing on it at all. The wealth of information on FB is mind-blowing and like here we have good conversations and even private ones as well without having to do the friends thing. The photos that show up on some of the RR historical FB sights are incredible, so many that have never seen the light of day until the person posts them on FB.
I also have a FB account that has my real name and use it to communicate with my kids, wife, sister, cousin, and 5 very close friends. I get plenty of friend requests on it but do not accept them and people are fine with that when I tell them I only have the account to stay in touch with my kids.
My son has four FB accounts one for his movie work, a second for his sports writing, a third is for his current job and he has his private one. It is a necessary tool for his line(s) of work. My sons' photos are plastered all over the DC/Marvel-verse from his movie/TV work even though he was just an extra he was an actual DC/Marvel character in some of them and that bumped him up to fame status as Marvel Wiki put it.
The RCMP would come to our kid's school and teach them about internet safety and that was a real eye-opener. One of my daughters' friends had a photo of herself she had posted at an event show up on a sex for sale ad in Russia. They had just pulled random photos off the internet for their ads and my daughters' friend was one of them. A call to the RCMP who then contacted their Russian counterpart soon had it removed.
If I type my name in Google absolutely nothing comes up, even my personal FB page does not have my photo.
Vancouvers other RR station was the CNs, now used for VIA Rail and as the bus station, not that we have bus service anymore since Greyhound pulled out. The distances were just too great and they were driving empty buses around the country. 20 hours on a bus or an hour on a plane.
John York 1 ..... The Barstow sttion is impressive. Thanks for your comments too. It would be good if you re-posted your Cracker Barrel in the next Weekend Photo Fun.
...
Below is another station from one of our train trips. It is the Grand Canyon station. We road the Grand Canyon Railway and were seated in the dome car. The line and the station were formerly part of the Santa Fe Railway.
BATMANI posted the same videos on FB and they got over a hundred views along with a bunch of good conversation to boot.
My wife uses Facebook for family info.
When I retired, after having the school use its Facebook page, I swore I wouldn't use it again. I have stories of issues with parents, teachers, and kids that all started with Facebook posts.
The school system's lawyer said that the majority of all legal issues she faces concerning the school are now related to Facebook posts. You can see why I don't miss it.
For us Facebook-less diners, I hope you continue to post things here, too.
Garry, same for you. I always appreciate your posts and photos. I was a little taken aback when my WPF post wasn't there anymore, but I decided I would just post it again next weekend.
Another online station I happened across is another one I haven't seen in person -- this one in Barstow, California. Very interesting style -- the arches almost remind me of some kind of Moorish architecture: